Emmulate
by MissAnnThropic
Summary: Generals Hammond and West contemplate the changes in Daniel Jackson over the years.


Title: Emmulate

Author: MissAnnThropic

Spoilers: late season SG1 should suffice

LiveJournal: miss_annthropic(dot)livejournal(dot)com

Summary: Generals Hammond and West contemplate the changes in Daniel Jackson over the years.

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. I'm just a sad little fangirl that spends her days writing fanfic and watching DVDs of her favorite shows :(

Author's Note: My Stargate fic-writing muscles were atrophied by the time I wrote this. If you wanted to turn back now, I wouldn't blame you.

* * *

It didn't surprise George Hammond that his retirement party looked like a who's who of the Stargate program. For them, service men and women who felt like family to one another, it was like a family reunion barbeque. The atmosphere was familiar and friendly. George wouldn't have it any other way.

George noticed one man on the sidelines, not quite one of the group, and recognized General West, Retired. He'd been sitting off by himself for the most part for most of the night, a sharp, contemplative look on his face as he stared out at the gathered comrades.

George snagged a couple of drinks and made his way over to the grizzled old warhorse. He figured the two of them would have least have something in common.

"Wesley," George said by way of greeting, holding out one glass.

Wesley West took the drink and said, "Hell of a party, George. These people really thought the world of you." He smirked. "Shit, this world and a few others, too."

George sat down on the bench next to Wesley and smiled. "You moved on from the program just when it became something truly amazing. These people are the reason."

"I heard about all the things they've done. They're all heroes. It says a lot about you that they hold you in such high regard."

"It's completely mutual," George answered, and then looked critically at Wesley. "Is that what you've been sitting here all this time thinking while you stared a hole through everyone in this room?"

Wesley looked startled. "You noticed that?"

George chuckled. "Don't worry; everyone else has been too festive to pick up on it." George stopped. "Well, I'm sure General O'Neill noticed, but he's not really the kind of man to call you on it."

Wesley smirked. "Actually, funny you should mention O'Neill. I've been sitting here and watching the people I knew, amazed at how different they are." He looked over at George. "You know the first mission through the gate was, for all intents and purposes, a suicide mission, right?"

"I'd heard that."

"I honestly never expected to see Jack O'Neill again after he stepped through that event horizon."

George looked up at the crowd, his eyes finding Jack immediately. The gray-haired Brigadier General was in the epicenter of his old team. Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and Doctor Daniel Jackson were on either side, as if they were his wingmen in flanking positions. Teal'c, stoic as ever, was in the back, a silent guardian to them all. George almost expected to see the Jaffa's trusty staff weapon in hand.

Sam was talking, and from the look on Jack's face (patiently amused but not really paying much attention), George had to assume it was something science-related. Daniel had a different look with a similar effect on his face. He was watching Sam intently, but too intently to be really following. The savage scowl on his face was overdone.

Their faces were about all that was different between the two men. Jack and Daniel both stood with feet braced apart, almost at parade rest, with arms folded over their chests. Daniel's posture had an edge of rigidity to it as he tried to focus his attention with the exactness of a laser on Sam. Jack just watched and almost smiled. George could almost see the glint in Jack's eye from across the room.

It was a familiar scene to George, and it made it so hard for him to picture the Jack O'Neill that West knew.

"Jack's been the backbone of the SG program, and I don't think there's a person in this room that would deny it." George sipped from his glass. "Sure, Sam makes the whole damn thing run, and Daniel is the reason we have any allies, but the real heart and soul of the whole thing is that man right there." George casually jabbed a finger in Jack's general direction.

Daniel's eyes shifted momentarily away from Sam to rest on George, as if he sensed the attention focused in their direction. Jack kept on smiling and nodding. After a moment studying the situation, Daniel looked back at Sam, too.

"I have no idea how you did it, George."

George looked at Wesley at the undisguised tone of wonder in his voice. "Did what?"

"Doctor Jackson."

George frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean when he first came on board, he was a snotty brat. Smart as all get-out, no question, but so _childish_. I wanted to ring his geeky little neck more than once. I would have sworn there was not a military bone in his body. But you managed to turn him into… hell, a _soldier_. You deserve a god-damn medal for that."

George looked again toward Daniel Jackson. It was true, the young man's entire demeanor had changed over the years. He was a seasoned soldier now. George would trust him at his back in a crisis situation, under enemy fire, any day of the week. Daniel had gone so far from the geeky Egyptologist he used to be.

The way Daniel and Jack stood together, body language identical, said it all. Jack was a soldier through and through, the survivor of countless hardships, and Daniel a perfect echo of that hardened man.

"I didn't do that, Wesley. That was all Jack O'Neill."

Wesley glanced curiously over at George.

George nodded toward the two men. "I know you weren't around to see it – I heard those two actually hated each other when they first met – but Jack and Daniel became almost brothers." George paused. "No… brothers isn't right. More like father and son."

"Those two? Seriously?"

"Yes. You knew Daniel was an orphan, parents died when he was little, right?"

"It was in his file."

George thumbed the edge of his glass absently. "I guess being the outside observer let me see it, but there's been a parent-child give and take between those two from the start." George cocked his head faintly. "I have a theory."

Wesley sat back. "Well, please, I'm all ears."

George considered his words. "I think the attitude Daniel used to have, the one that put everyone off, was something he learned when he lost his parents. Just a way to survive in the system, one foster home after another. He trained himself to not care what anyone else thought. He got to the point where he didn't seek _anyone's_ approval."

"That sounds about right with the Daniel Jackson I remember."

"Well, then Jack comes along and Daniel… things changed."

Wesley nodded, curious. "Go on."

George cut right to the heart of the matter. "I didn't make Daniel into a soldier, Jack did. Jack sort of became Daniel's father, and you know sons, they want to be just like their dads."

Wesley looked out at Jack and Daniel. The two men stood shoulder to shoulder, arms crossed, feet firmly planted. Warrior poses. Someone emerged from the crowd around the old SG-1 team and approached Daniel, touched his arm to get his attention. Jack's eyes cut to person, assessing them in a second before he deemed Daniel safe from harm and turning his attention back to Sam. Before Daniel left with his colleague, he glanced at Jack. Not seeking permission (since Jack had already turned back to Sam), but an affirming glance that Jack was there and would still be there when Daniel got back. Like a son looking to a father, finding reassurance in the parent's mere presence before braving to set off alone.

"Well, I'll be damned," Wesley mumbled when he saw what George did.

"He's still Daniel in there, still a genius with languages and cultures, but there's armor around it now. The O'Neill Shield."

"How the hell did Jack ever manage?" Wesley marveled.

George shrugged. "I don't think he meant to. I don't think he even really wanted to. But I think, deep down, he missed being a father."

Wesley looked slowly over at George, "Well, we both know it's hard to lose family."

George nodded sadly, looked out at the room full of people he'd grown to consider family, and thought 'hard to lose, easy to find'.

END


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